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There are lots of fancy-schmancy documents that guide what educators do each day and each year. It starts with federal guidelines for using federal monies, heads down to state mandates, and gets to the nitty gritty when it comes to board policy, local association agreements and contracts, and evaluations.

This year, it seems, more than ever, so many Ohio educators have spent their calories discussing arguing many of these documents. I won’t open that political battle in this post, so I’ll steer clear of specifics.

But what if you had the chance to make the rules?

What if you could write your own contract with your board? What would you include? What would you commit to them? What would you request of your boss?

What if you could write your own evaluation template? What do you want your evaluator to look for?

As we wrap up our second full year of implementation of the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, or OTES, I’m still struggling to determine the overall effectiveness of the typing-intensive, conversation-weak approach to teacher evaluation. One challenge I’ve faced has simply been the organization of pre-conferences, observations, and post-conferences. Email and shared calendars have helped this, but putting together an observation schedule for each of the 28 OTES’d teachers can be challenging.

Unfortunately, still overshadowing many of these observations for some teachers is this negative cloud of doom! When they received my memo indicating I’d like to begin scheduling their observation, they seem to interpret it as, “Your teaching career has been sentenced to death unless you completely fret about this observation for days and lose tons of sleep and focus putting together The Perfect Lesson.” Regardless of how much I try to convince this handful of teachers that I’m still completely here to support them and am looking forward to seeing the great things going on in their rooms, all I hear about from them is how stressed they are about their observation and how much they can’t wait until it’s over.

Then there’s the other type.

Earlier this year, in an email exchange of potential observation dates and times that followed my observation memo, one teacher replied with two simple sentences that completely set the tone for her observation (and reflected her feelings toward the evaluation):

“It’s on my calendar! Prepare to be amazed!”

Boom! With those two sentences, the tone, the bar, and the challenge had been set. She was ready to rock her evaluation!

How do you face your evaluation? What does your attitude say about you?

A few months ago, in the depth of Christmas Music Season, my wife and I were having a conversation about our favorite Christmas songs. I shared that most of my favorites are specific renditions of certain Christmas songs. Of course, like you, I always tear up reminiscing about Carol Brady singing “Oh Holy Night” at the end of the Very Brady Christmas Special. But there are others on the list, too.

A couple years ago, I stumbled on a new favorite. Take a second and watch Canadian musician Sean Quigley:

So what is it about watching this video that I like so much? What is it in this video that warms my heart and shines a Linus-like spirit into My Christmas each year? It’s his joy! What a beacon of happiness! Does this guy look like he loves what he’s doing, loves his life, and is adoring each breath exhales! And by watching him shine his happiness, I’m drawn to this rendition each each. Now hold that thought.

Part of my role in the enrollment process for new students at our school involves selecting a home room and a teacher for the new students. It’s funny to me how different teachers respond differently to this news. I remember one time reviewing the file of three new incoming family members. As I looked at current class lists and determined these students’ new homeroom teachers, I planned my trip through the elementary wing to explain to their new teachers that they would be receiving a new kiddo the next morning. I won’t go into the details of how the first two teachers went, but I’ll just say it was the typical reaction.

What I want to focus on is teacher #3. The conversation unfolded something like this:

Me: “Mrs. So and So, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to let you know you’ll have a new young lady joining your class tomorrow. I wanted to tell you before the end of the day so you could let your class know they will have a new friend in the morning.”

This is where I brace for the “I just put up a new bulletin board with my kids’ names on it! Now I’ll have to add another one!” or “Well, I’ll need another desk in here!”

Wait. What?! I was thrown by how enthusiastic she was about getting the student! Here is a teacher who already has a tough load and plenty of challenges in her personal and professional life…yet she’s completely excited to have the chance to get to know a new student!

THAT’S who I want teaching my girls. THAT’S who I want impacting change in our building. THAT’S someone who exhibits the same passion, enthusiasm, and straight-up JOY that we want leading our students through academic experiences!

Like the drummer, Sean Quigley, her love for what she does shines to those around her! What do people say when they talk about your lasting impact?

For the first four years of my teaching career (sixth and seventh grade kiddos!), I was, for the most part, in situations where I had the freedom to do my own gig. My “system” was simple:

Follow these four rules:

Respect Yourself

Respect Others

Respect the Teachers

Respect the School

We spent the first few weeks of school revisiting these guidelines regularly and constantly discussed what it meant to “respect” each of these groups. When problems did arise, I always tried to bring it back to its respective rule. Not gonna lie – it worked pretty well. I had the occasional infraction that required a little more itnervention, but I loved that the rules weren’t beat into kids and they had some ownership of defining what each “rule” meant to them and their class period. If I remember correctly, I think I eventually got rid of #3 and “covered it” in #2.

Then I moved to Elementary Land.

As I met with my new departmentalized team, we discussed what we wanted our team’s manamgment system to be. Our building, unofficially, seemed to all use “card” systems. We purchased overpriced mobile pocket charts, printed labels for each block, and filled them with a rainbow of slick, laminated color cards.

I have three gripes with this system.

First, it was a system – a heck of a system. It had to be explained and maintained. It had to be transported and documented and reset and noisily picked up in the hallway by twelve helpful kids when Steven or Alex or Mackenzie would accidently carry it upside-down! The last thing I needed was something else to take time away from…you know…learning.

Second, the way we implemented it, once your card was “turned” (Did lightening flash and thunder just boom outside your window, too?!), it was turned for the day. That means, because Rachel made a poor choice in the gym twenty minutes before the first bell even rang, her card was turned for the day. At 1:55, when she walked back in the room from Specials, ready and enthusiastic to have a positive learning experience, there was that reminder up on the wall for everyone to see: Alert! Alert! Rachel is having a bad day!

Finally, I don’t like the message on respect that it sends. If Eddie is sitting at his desk and looks up to see that he is “still” on green, what message does that send? I contend that it says, “Eddie…you haven’t messed up…yet. But when you do, there’s a yellow, red, and blue card just waiting to make an appearance for you!” How about we trust and respect kids (or in the least, let them think we do) that they won’t “mess up”?

The first year I used this clearly defined and organized system, I had the the most discipline problems I’ve ever had.

Now, I’m sure there is lots of statistical research out there that supports the value for this type of system. And, I’m sure it totally works for some educators and can be used to run very managed learning environments well. What I’m saying is that it didn’t work for me. Maybe I wasn’t implementing it correctly. Maybe I needed more professional development on it. Or maybe I needed a system that was more aligned to how I taught.

What happens when we spend more time preparing and implementing engaging lessons than on managing management?

Long story, short (thanks for sticking with me up till this point!), the next year I reverted back to modified version of my original management plan. I asked the kiddos to respect three stakeholders, we revisited what that means, we practiced, we discussed, and most importantly, instead of managing and documenting complex systems, we were engaged and we learned.

I began to walk through some of the classrooms of my new building this week, exploring the walls and bulliten boards and yes, management systems. I’m really excited to watch the school year unfold and see how teachers use some of these very creative-looking systems!

I’m not at all saying my system will work for everyone. I’m also not at all saying the card systems don’t work. I’m saying that as we are all preparing for the upcoming school year, choose your managment system carefully. Make sure it reflects your beliefs about management, learning, and kids…and not necesarily in that order!

In his interview, he touches on the acceptance issues of schools embracing teachnology, specificically social media, in the learning process. As I feel developing the quitesiential “Community of Learners” also involes clearly and effectively communicating with parents and stakeholders (can you tell I’ve just finished job interview season?), I think getting families on board with the social media/school partnership is essential.

Here are a few lines from Mr. Couros I liked:

On filtering

“A lot of stuff that we don’t do is because of fear [of the Internet]”

“What [filtering does] is actually encourages kids to use their own device for unfiltered access.”

“When schools block stuff, they also don’t talk about it, and what they’re doing is setting their kids up to do unsafe things either during school hours or after school hours because they don’t know any better because no one is talking about it because they don’t have to.”

On District Digital Identities:

“When I actually looked at what would be a logical hashtag [for the district]…we found that parents and community members were actually creating a digital footprint..a d igital identity for that school district, that was very negative. So I looked it up, and I saw people that weren’t educators, weren’t able to tell the story of what is actually happening in schools, telling the story of that district…creating a digital identity for that district that is very negative. We are on the other end of that spectrum where we don’t want that happening. We encourage debate. We encourage people being critical of the things we’re doing because we don’t learn anything when everyone agrees with us. We want them to be engaged in conversation, but we want to be at the table, actively involved in the conversations, instead of outside the restaurant.”

So…

As I’m taking on a new administrative role, where do I go with social media? Our district has and maintains an information-based website and Twitter account. The district and middle school also have their own Facebook pages. We have a lot of great things going on (and hopefully even more, soon!) in the district and elementary building that I’d love to share with our community!

I’ve seen the value of effective social media use in schools. One great example was when Tecumseh Junior High School Principal Brett Gruetzmacher (@BGruetzmacher) used his building’s Facebook page to keep parents posted about late dismissal of students due to severe weather in the area. We’re nuts for not having systems like that in place.

Surely, however, there are some downsides and things to be aware of.

What are some lessons learned from other administrators/districts/buildings about using Facebook/Twitter accounts to share information? What do I need a heads up about? What conversations need to be held regarding privacy, policy, etc.?

After six years of wonderful classroom teaching, I’m heading to the other side of the staff meeting table. Last Thursday, I was board-approved a new elementary principal. Following a spring of applications, resumes, first and second round interviews, report card-memorizing, demographic internalizing, filling up gas tanks, and spending half of each paycheck taking suits to the local dry cleaners…I’m happy just to have landed the opportunity! The icing on the cake, however, is how much of a fit I think it’s going to be! I’m excited to get started!

So where to start?

I’ve met with my [former my new position] new superintendent several times. It’s going to be a great working relationship, and he has done an outstanding job of documenting and archiving his yearly work. My kitchen table is covered with an array of his binders, folders, and paperwork.

I’ve met a few staff members already – those in on my interviews and several of the district-level staff. I’ll meet several more next week. One of my early charges is the obligatory “Welcome to a Great Year!” letter for the front of the student handbook. Since it has to get to the printers soon, Siri threw it on my ‘ASAP List’.

But before I begin that, I need to take a deep breath. The last few weeks have been lightning-fast with little time to just pause and reflect.

I’ve spent several years working on my grad school and licensure stuff…all helping me to define the administrator I want to be. Now I need to bring it all together. I asked my fifth graders last year to create “This I Believe” projects, defining and explaining their core values about school, friends, family, and most of all, themselves. “Go and do likewise,” says the whisper on my right shoulder.

So this afternoon I’ll take my pink lemonade Crystal Light, the iPad, and a blanket, and enjoy some time reflecting and preparing…deciding what reallyis important to me about my job, who I am, and who I want to be.

This week, Apple raised the bar on the education-related expectations from the tech industry. The introduction of iBooks 2 and Apple’s entrance into digital and interactive textbooks certainly turned a few heads and raised eyebrows. And then the mud-slinging came.

Just as quickly as the blogs and tweets were posted announcing the details of the announcement, the nay-sayers were creating lists of all the things [they feel are] wrong with Apple’s iBooks Author and the textbooks themselves: limitations of only viewing on Apple’s own iPads, no real ePub exporting options, Apple taking their 30% share, and of course, the EULA limiting who actually “owns” what.

Now just a second.

Thank you, Apple. Thanks for putting in thousands of R & D hours, thanks for being innovative, thanks for having vision, thanks for being tech giant who is willing to listen and explore new approaches.

You didn’t get it exactly right [in the tech giant of Ryan Malany’s eyes] the first time, but you did something. You raised the bar. Just like when you omitted the floppy drive from G3 towers and iMacs. Everyone freaked out. Nay-sayers pointed out 197 things wrong with it. And years later, it’s tough to buy a [any brand] computer with one.

We’ve seen this before: you’ll take in customer feedback, you’ll revisit your first generation software restraints, you’ll update, revise, and release. Other companies are probably already hard at work emulating your software. They’ll release it [after you’ve done the back-work] at a lower costs with more options and people will continue to complain about Apple’s high[er] costs.

There are countless things that fifth graders do that make me smile. Sometimes it’s even part of a lesson!

Every now and then, as I’m scanning the classroom, I notice a few too many glazed-over eyes looking back at me. It’s time to whip something special out of ol’ toolbox.

Raising the volume a little and probably jumping onto a chair or bookshelf, I exclaim in my best adventurous voice, “Now, reach deep into your pocket [as I act out that my pocket might be four miles deep] and pull out…your imaginary pencil!” Suddenly heads snap off of elbows and grins appear on faces. Without hesitation, they all reach deep for their own pencil.

“Now, on your giant imaginary paper in the sky [I’m near-yelling at this point], please write your answer to this question: What type of figurative language is, ‘The light is as bright as the sun!'” On cue, 23 kiddos start making giant letters in the air holding their imaginary pencils with perfect, yet imaginary, grip and precision. Each letter is narrated in unison: “S-I-M-I-L-E.” Next, comes the predictable student who exclaims, “Ah, mine broke!” and runs to the pencil sharpener. Everyone gets in a good laugh.

Then we take it up a level.

“Now, everyone take out your imaginary…paintbrush!” Again, they reach deep for both their imaginations and and their paintbrushes. We spend the next few minutes painting our imaginary canvases with answers to figurative language questions – forcing both an understanding of types of figurative language and correct spellings of relevant vocabulary.

Then we take it up a level.

Credit: HiResSquad @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/hiressquad/

“And now…[At this point, I’m definitely atop a bookshelf and crouched down for effect]…reach deeeeeep in your pocket…and pull out…[they’re about as fixated on my next words as you hopefully are!]…YOUR IMAGINARY….SPRAY PAINT!”

Cheers erupt and figurative language vandalism ensues. I usually end up getting chased around the classroom by Landon as he attacks me silly string-style with his imaginary spray paint cans. When it gets too loud or it’s time to wrap it up, I just drop to the ground while clutching my face. As they get quiet and gather around, I sob, “Alright, that got out of hand. I got paint in my eye!”

Most years, during the First-Week-Here’s-How-I-Roll speeches, I write a list of words on the board. It’s the Mr. Malany Bad Word List. It goes without saying that certain four-letter words are banned in my classroom, but this list spells out a few additional naughty vocabulary words. They include your “retards”, “shut ups”, “gays”, “sucks”, “screws”, “butts”, etc. Basically, the you-shouldn’t-say-them-in-front-of-your-mother list. I let them get their chuckle in, then from that point forward, we don’t hear them. Every now and then a student may need a friendly reminder, and occasionally a deeper “here’s why” conversation, but for the most part, those words don’t enter my classroom.

This year I want to add to the list. I’m not going to write these words on the board though…I just don’t want the kids to know them. They’re teacher words. I paid lots of money to go to college. In fact, I spent a lot of time doing it. And I worked hard doing it. And I like to think that there are a few things I got out of college that I wouldn’t know otherwise: teacher words.

In education, we seem to throw around buzz words to/at/in front of/near/around/toward students. The more buzz words we throw, the better teachers we are, right? And surely, the more syllables in the buzz words…well…we just have the ammo to put John Keating to shame!

Hogwash!

So here is my list of words that originated as “teacher-only” words…and..in my opinion, need to return there:

1. objective

2. assessment

3. formative

4. summative

5. intervention

6. differentiated instruction

7. indicator

8. standard

9. benchmark

10. learning target

11. critical thinking

12. divergent

13. classroom management

14. graphic organizer

15. 21st Century __________

16. integrated

17. data analysis

18. scaffolding

19. supplemental

Don’t get me wrong! I’ll DO these things. Oh, I’ll do these things constantly! But can’t ten-year old kids DO without knowing they’re DOING something? I know, I know…kids need to know learning targets so they have clear objectives to accomplish during a lesson…blah, blah blah. I call that teaching. Integrate it. (Oooh look – a buzz word!) Integrate it deeply into a conversation or a self-directed activity or a discovery lesson or a technology experience.

I don’t care how you use your fancy buzz words. Just integrate them. And don’t tell the kids you’re doing it!

This summer, as I did the What-To-Chuck Walk around my classroom, my eyes kept returning to an entire bookshelf filled with giant Merriam-Webster Dictionaries.

We’re not talking five or six of them. We’re talking an entire class set. The collection was one of those inherited things that another teacher offered to me, and I was too much of a naive, young, greedy teacher to turn them down. They were still in near-perfect condition, each with a $22.99 sticker stuck to the front cover.

Credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/60437

So I began the analysis: Do my students use them? Was in because of accessibility issues? Could I put them anywhere else? What else could I put there? Would something else on that shelf serve the students better?

Then I remembered one of my students from the last school year: Ellie. I think it was during our work on books for the Young Authors’ Conference. I remember her words and actions specifically. She was working at her table, located near the wall of computers in my room. She must have still been drafting or editing. Nearby, students were typing their drafts on GoogleDocs, preparing to copy and paste into StoryJumper for publication.

Ellie came across a difficult word to spell. She asked her neighbors, to no avail. Then she flipped on her lightbulb and exclaimed aloud, “Let’s look it up on GoogleDocs!” Within seconds she was leaning over a friend’s keyboard, typing her best guess and waiting for for “The Red Squiggly Line.” With a flash of the line and a quick right click, she had her correct spelling and was back to writing.

Meanwhile, four pieces of dust fell atop the dictionaries on the bookshelf.

So during that reflection, I had my answer. I loaded up the dictionaries on a chair with wheels and scooted my way to the storage book room. It was tough to stack perfectly good dictionaries (and their price tags!) on a dark shelf in the corner of the book room, knowing well that they would remain their until the end of time. But alas, it is a different time. Ellie, and all of my students, have coping mechanisms to assist them. [Rest assure, I’m about to right-click on my spelling of “mechanisims” instead of heading to my bookshelf for a dictionary.]